date-created: '2010-03-27'
date-updated: '2025-11-28'
manifest-author:
    name: Appropedia
    email: admin@appropedia.org
title: 'Ethanol-based hand sanitizer'
description: "Hand sanitizers are becoming ubiquitous in the developed world, commonly found in public places such as shopping malls and waiting rooms. These hand cleaners contain a mixture of alcohol, water and a thickening agent to help the solution spread completely over the hands. Some solutions may contain moisturizers, perfumes or other non-medical additives. Alcohol-based solutions are known to eliminate a significant portion of germs carried on the hands, and are also used in medical facilities to sterilize equipment and surgeons' hands,,. This work proposes a method to produce hand sanitizers containing alcohol from local, natural resources by fermenting available sugars and starches from corn or potatoes, and combining the result with a thickening agent to increase spreading of the solution over the area to be cleaned before the alcohol evaporates."
keywords:
    - Engineering
    - Hygiene
    - Sanitation
    - 'hand cleaning'
project-link: 'https://www.appropedia.org/Ethanol-based_hand_sanitizer'
contact:
    social:
        platform: Appropedia
version: 128
development-stage: Designed
made: false
image: 'https://www.appropedia.org/w/images/thumb/8/85/Screenshot_2020-04-09_Ethanol-based_hand_sanitizer_-_Mindmap_-_Ethanol-based_hand_sanitizer_-_3_pdf.png/1280px-Screenshot_2020-04-09_Ethanol-based_hand_sanitizer_-_Mindmap_-_Ethanol-based_hand_sanitizer_-_3_pdf.png'
license:
    documentation: CC-BY-SA-3.0
licensor:
    affliation: 'Category:Queens University, Kingston'
    contact: 'https://www.appropedia.org/'
documentation-home: 'https://www.appropedia.org/Ethanol-based_hand_sanitizer'
documentation-language: en